> [kikinovak at calimero ~]$ cat /etc/hosts > 127.0.0.1 calimero.local calimero localhost.localdomain > localhost > > [kikinovak at calimero ~]$ hostname > calimero.local > [kikinovak at calimero ~]$ hostname --fqdn > calimero.local > > Wouldn't this be more correct? I would suggest not making 'local' part of your server name. Although localhost.localdomain, in a non network setting, can work absolutely fine, there is an issue with your email headers. The use of locahost, local, and stuff like that is a big red flag. I changed, in my centos 5 server, where the host name was localhost.locadomain... /etc/sysconfig/network Hostname=server1.mydomain.com (where the domain is one of my websites on the server, actually my name server too) Change, for sendmail to work with it, the file local-hosts-names Add the new name to it Server1.mydomain.com Change /etc/hosts First of all, leave all the original stuff and do not alter. Underneath the original stuff, just add <ipaddress> server1.mydomain.com REBOOT Then do this... shell prompt> uname -n server1.mydomain.com shell prompt> hostname -s Server1 shell prompt> hostname -d Mydomain.com shell prompt> hostname -f server1.mydomain.com shell prompt> hostname server1.mydomain.com All of these steps allows the mail headers, at least in sendmail, to function properly. Other than that, unless you are in a network, or if you are not sending mail, it is usually not a biggie if you miss some steps. This is what I did to resolve a new hostname.